The confirmation by Souq.com of one of the worst-kept secrets in the market — that it was being acquired by Amazon – meant that shares in Emaar Malls were one of the few significant climbers on the Dubai Financial Market.
Investors were cheered by the prospect that a proposed rival bid that would have used $800m of Emaar Malls’ money now seems far less likely, and so the retailer’s stock climbed 3.6 per cent to finish at Dh2.58, rebounding from a 2 per cent drop on Monday when the company announced that it had submitted its bid.
The Dubai Financial Market Index closed 0.2 per cent lower at 3,446.97, with 75 per cent of stocks trading downwards. GFH Financial, which has been the subject of merger speculation with Dubai-based Shuaa Capital, saw its shares drop by 6 per cent to Dh2.47, while shares in the struggling contractor Drake & Scull dropped 2.2 per cent to Dh0.44.
The biggest mover on Nasdaq Dubai, meanwhile, was Depa – the fit-out contractor that reported dramatically improved profit margins on Sunday, as well as a plan to potentially offload underperforming units. Its shares edged up by 0.3 per cent to just below $0.31 per share when it emerged that non-executive director (and former Drake & Scull chief executive) Khaldoun Tabari bought almost 750,000 shares in the company.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Market General Index edged up 0.1 per cent to 4,469.66, with RAK Ceramics as the biggest gainer. Its shares climbed 5.7 per cent to Dh2.20.
In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All-Share Index rose 0.3 per cent to close at 6,872.77.
The news from the kingdom on Monday that energy stocks would now be taxed at a 50 per cent rate (as opposed to the 85 per cent currently paid by Saudi Aramco), helped to boost the share price of the petrochemicals company Saudi Kayan by 2 per cent to 7.7 riyals.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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